The use of Mr.

Mr. (pronounced as Mister) is used for most men; married or unmarried man. You may address a man by Mr. “Something” (his last name) if you don’t know a person’s first name, or if the person has not told you to use his first name. However, never call that man just “Mister” (Mr.), say, for example, Mr. Howard.

The use of Mrs.

Mrs. is used to refer to a married woman. Her last name is (normally) her husband’s last name.

Example:

Mrs. Hillary Rodham-Clinton.

–> Her maiden name is Hillary Rodham; Clinton is his husband’s last name. We call her Mrs. Clinton, NEVER MRS. Rodham or Mrs. Hillary. If she got divorced, she would use her maiden name. We would call her Miss Rodham or Miss Hillary Rodham.

NOTE:

Mrs. (woman’s first name) (surename) is the format traditionally used by divorced women in the US. For example, Mrs. Julia Perez is the traditional form for a divorced woman who was formerly married to someone named “Perez”, but had kept using the “Perez” perhaps because that is the family name of her children (she has kids with him), or for some other reason.

Widow is traditionally continue to be Mrs. (deceased husband’s full name), as long as she doesn’t remarry.

The use of Miss

Miss is used to address young or unmarried women. In some countries, it is also used to address teachers. For example, Miss (women’s frst name) (surename): Miss Juliar Fadillah, or Miss (surename): Miss Fadillah, or Miss (first name): Miss Juliar (to address teacher).

The use of Ms.

Ms. (pronounced as /miz/) is used to address women regardless their marital status. To avoid confusion whether to address a woman by Mrs. or Miss; you can’t go wrong with Ms. whether the woman you are addressing is married or unmarried, has changed her name or not.

How to write a name:

Full name: John (first name) Christian (middle name Howard (last name)

Written : Mr. John Christian Howard (OR: Mr. Howard, John Christian)

Spoken : Mr. Howard (NEVER Mr. John)

Mic or Mike?

Did you know that the early abbreviation for microphone was “mike“ /maɪk/? But over the past 25 years or so“mic“ /maɪk/ has been steadily pushing “mike“ out.

The problem with “mic“ is that it doesn’t follow our usual habits of matching abbreviation spellings to our pronunciations. “Mic“, like similar words ‘tic’, ‘hic’, ‘sic’,and ‘pic’ (the short for picture) looks like it should be pronounced “mick“. If we want to pronounce it like“mike“, we should adapt the spelling, as we normally do.

We have…

Coke, not COC(a-cola)

nuke, not NUC(lear)

fave, not FAV(orite)

fridge, not (re)FRIG(erator)

bike, not BIC(ycle)

delish, not DELIC(ious)

There’s an additional problem when it’s used as a verb. When someone is attaching your microphone are theymicing you? Are you then miced? No one wants to be covered in mice (the plural for mouse).